Shaking hands and kissing babies in Canada

Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff holds a crying baby at his campaign headquarters in Toronto, April 8, 2011. Canadians will head to the polls in a federal election on May 2.

I’m surprised when I see a politician reach for a baby at a political event. The scene is always ripe with the potential for comically unpleasant pictures. This picture of Ignatieff is good, but Jim Bourg’s picture of President Bush from 2006 is my favorite “baby kissing gone bad" photo. I laugh every time I see it.

Jim Bourg / Reuters file

U.S. President George W. Bush hands back a crying baby that was handed to him from the crowd as he arrived for an outdoor dinner with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Trinwillershage July 13, 2006.